Quick answer
You can claim 45p for every business mile you drive in your own car or van in the UK, up to 10,000 miles in a tax year, and 25p per mile after that. Motorcycles are 24p per mile and bicycles 20p, with no taper. These rates are HMRC’s Approved Mileage Allowance Payment and have been unchanged since 2011-12.
Is mileage tax deductible in the UK?
Business mileage in your own vehicle is fully deductible against your trading or employment income when it is for travel that qualifies as wholly and exclusively for business. Ordinary commuting between your home and a permanent workplace does not qualify, even if you stop for a work meeting on the way. Travel to a temporary workplace (one you attend for less than 24 months) does qualify, as does travel between two workplaces.
The mechanism is HMRC’s Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP). AMAP is a single flat rate per mile that covers fuel, insurance, road tax, servicing, and depreciation. You cannot claim those costs separately on top of AMAP. The rate is set in the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 and rebased only by Parliament, which is why it has not moved since the 2011-12 tax year despite the cost of motoring roughly doubling.
How much can you claim?
| Vehicle | First 10,000 business miles | Above 10,000 miles |
|---|---|---|
| Car or van | 45p per mile | 25p per mile |
| Motorcycle | 24p per mile | 24p per mile |
| Bicycle | 20p per mile | 20p per mile |
If you carry a fellow employee on the same business journey, you can add 5p per mile per passenger.
Worked example. A bookkeeper drives 12,400 business miles in the 2026-27 tax year. The claim is 10,000 miles at 45p plus 2,400 miles at 25p, which gives 4,500 plus 600, a total of 5,100. If the employer pays only 30p per mile, the employee can claim the shortfall against income tax through a Mileage Allowance Relief claim on their self-assessment.
Record-keeping requirements
HMRC requires a mileage log kept at the time of each journey. The log must show the date, start and end location, business purpose, and the number of business miles. For self-employed taxpayers, mileage records must be retained for five years after the 31 January self-assessment deadline. For PAYE employees claiming mileage relief, the retention period is four years.
A pocket notebook is acceptable, but the vast majority of HMRC enquiries that go against the taxpayer on motor expenses do so because the log was reconstructed retrospectively from diary entries. Receipt-capture tools that timestamp journeys at the moment they happen close that evidentiary gap.
How to claim, step by step
- Keep a contemporaneous mileage log for every business journey, including the business reason.
- At the end of the pay period, total the business miles and apply the AMAP rates above.
- If you are an employee, submit the total to your employer via expenses. They reimburse you up to 45p / 25p tax-free.
- If your employer pays less than the AMAP rate, claim the difference as Mileage Allowance Relief in box 17 of the SA102 employment pages of your self-assessment, or via form P87 if you do not file SA.
- If you are self-employed, deduct the AMAP total as a business expense in box 20 of the SA103S self-employment pages, or use the simplified expenses figure on the SA103F if your turnover is above the VAT threshold.
- Keep the log and any supporting evidence (calendar entries, client meeting notes) for the statutory retention period.
Common mistakes
- Claiming AMAP on a company car. AMAP only applies to vehicles you personally own or lease. Company-car drivers use Advisory Fuel Rates instead.
- Including commuting miles. The journey from home to your normal workplace is private mileage, even if you take a work call on the drive.
- Mixing AMAP with actual costs. You cannot claim AMAP and then separately deduct fuel receipts, depreciation, or insurance for the same vehicle.
- Reconstructing a log at year end. HMRC routinely disallows mileage claims where the log is not contemporaneous.
- Treating the 5p passenger supplement as automatic. It only applies when the passenger is a fellow employee travelling for the same business reason.
Software that helps
Most bookkeepers use a capture tool that timestamps business journeys at the moment they happen, which is the only reliable way to keep AMAP logs HMRC will accept on enquiry.
- Tripcatcher runs as an iOS and Android app, syncs into Xero and QuickBooks, and applies HMRC rates automatically.
- ExpenseFlow captures mileage from receipts, calendar entries, and journey logs, applies the 45p / 25p taper across the tax year, and posts the entry to your accounting platform with the correct VAT treatment.
- MileIQ runs a passive trip detection service and produces HMRC-ready monthly reports.
FAQ
See the answered questions above for HMRC rates, company-car treatment, log requirements, employer top-ups, and electric vehicle handling.